Linh Cinder
Linh Cinder (born Princess Selene, meaning "moon" in Greek) is the primary heroine of the Lunar Chronicles. She is a viewpoint character in all four books in the series and the prequel novellas Glitches and Something Old, Something New. Cinder was the last Queen of Luna. History Linh Cinder (born Selene Channary Jannali Blackburn) was the only child of the late Queen Channary and the niece of Queen Levana, and was therefore the only true heir to the Lunar throne. Her father is unknown, due to Channary, who slept with many men. When Selene was three years old, she was thought to be killed by a nursery fire. This fire was started by Levana, in order to claim the crown for herself. She did not die, but lost her left leg and hand, and was taken to Earth by Logan Tanner. Cinder's ethnicity is mixed (Asian/Caucasian?) as shown in Marissa Meyer's blog. Selene was placed under the care of Michelle Benoit. A bomb shelter underneath Michelle Benoit's farm held Selene in a suspended animation tank for eight years in order to keep her alive but unconscious. When Selene was eleven, Logan started Selene's cybernetic surgeries since he was going insane from Lunar sickness. With the help of Linh Garan, an inventor from the Eastern Commonweat surgeon who also agreed to adopt Selene, the group turned the Lunar princess into a cyborg. Michelle then named Selene "Linh Cinder" a name that shows that Selene was reborn from the cinders of the fire. Garan took her to the Eastern Commonwealth to live with him, despite his wife, Adri, refusing to accept the girl into their family. Cinder had no recollection of her past life or of her time in the suspension tank and believed her parents were killed in a hover accident. From then on, until she was sixteen years old, Selene had only known herself as Linh Cinder, and had never questioned the truthfulness of her identity. Garan died from letumosis a few weeks after adopting Cinder, consequently making Adri Cinder's new legal guardian. Adri took full advantage of Cinder's status as a cyborg and mistreated Cinder, believing that she was the cause of Garan's death—which is partially true, since Lunars were the ones who carried the plague to Earth. For much of her childhood, Cinder was a girl who had no memory prior to a supposed "hover accident," in which she had lost her parents as well as her leg and hand. Cinder befriended Peony, Garan and Adri's youngest daughter and Pearl's sister, along with the family's android, Iko. Fairest In Fairest, Cinder was born as Selene. Her mother had shown only kindness to her, letting her sleep in her bedroom and feeding her herself. Channary thought about having Selene marry Kaito, prince of the Commonwealth, which is funny, because that's exactly what they did, of their own free will. However, Channary died of regolith poisoning and her sister Levana took the throne. Levana, knowing Channary had been a horrible ruler, thought that her niece would be one as well. Levana was only allowed to rule until Selene was age thirteen, so Levana came up with a plan to kill her. She set up Selene's nursery so that Selene's nanny would accidentally light the room on fire. Selene was thought to be dead and Levana became the queen, as opposed to queen regent, which she was before Selene's "death". Recent events Cinder Eventually Cinder adapted to her surroundings and became aware of the people that disliked her due to her being cyborg. Cinder set up a booth in the marketplace in New Beijing Market and worked as a mechanic in order to repay her "debt" to Adri. While she was working one day, Cinder met Prince Kai, who asked her to fix his android Nainsi. After Kai left, the market was evacuated due to a baker in the marketplace, Chang Sacha, showing signs of letumosis. Later on, while in the junkyard, Cinder, Iko, and Peony were looking for a new magbelt for Adri's hover car. They then discovered an orange, old-fashioned, gas-powered car, which Cinder planned to take home and repair in order to get to Europe and out of Adri's reach. At the same time, Cinder found symptoms of the plague (spots and rashes on the infected's skin) on Peony and she was promptly taken away by med-droids to a quarantine. Cinder tested negative for letumosis when tested at the time. When Cinder returned home, Adri was grieving over the loss of Peony and infuriated with Cinder, blaming the cause of her daughter's sickness on Cinder. Even though it was confirmed by the med-droids that she did not contract the plague, Cinder believed that she must have passed the plague from Chang Sacha, the market baker taken to the quarantines earlier that day, to Peony. Adri had Cinder taken away to the palace to be used for letumosis research against Cinder's will. Cinder tried to resist, taking out two med-droids (with her boot and a magbelt) in the process, but was tasered by a third droid and taken in unconscious. Dr. Erland, a researcher in the palace and also a Lunar (although no one knew he was), drew blood from Cinder, and when she woke up, he opened up her control panel and scanned her, revealing that she was 36.28% cyborg, therefore 36.28% not human. The doctor injected her with tagged letumosis pathogens and waited for them to take effect so he could give her a test antidote. After several minutes, however, Cinder's immune system kicked in and the pathogens disappeared. Finding her uniquely different from the other cyborgs, Dr. Erland drew another blood sample and immediately moved her to another lab. He then went to speak to her in person but Cinder tried to attack him with a wrench hidden in her metal calf. However, using his Lunar gift, the doctor made Cinder feel tired and safe, and he persuaded her not to attack him. Dr. Erland told her that she's actually immune to the plague and he questioned her about her childhood. Cinder told him that when she was eleven, she was told she was in a hover car crash that killed her parents, and was given a control panel, a metal hand, and a metal foot to replace the limbs she had lost. Cinder also mentioned that she did not remember anything before her surgery and was taken to the Eastern Commonwealth by Linh Garan, her former guardian. Dr. Erland let Cinder leave, but said she must come back for more check-ups. He also promised to make a private account with her own earnings-away from Adri's reach. Adri was initially shocked to see Cinder again, but then made sure that Cinder knew she must still do her "chores." Throughout the book, Kai frequently came to Dr. Erland's wing to see if there was any progress in finding a cure, which there was none. He had seen Cinder there, but Dr. Erland made sure to not tell Kai about Cinder being a cyborg. In addition to being a cyborg, Dr. Erland also informed Cinder that he had discovered her to be a Lunar shell as well, and this upset Cinder. But, Dr. Erland discovered a chip imbedded in Cinder's spine, preventing her from using her Lunar gift, and making it seem like she was a shell. At this point, Cinder also found out that Dr. Erland was a Lunar as well. Queen Levana, who was visiting the Eastern Commonwealth, had given a plague antidote to Kai, just after his father (Emperor Rikan) had died, and Kai delivered it to Dr. Erland. Dr. Erland couldn't replicate it because one of the ingredients was from the moon, but he gave it to Cinder to save her sister Peony, who had just entered the fourth and final stage of letumosis, but it was too late. Peony was too sick to realize what was going on and take the antidote, and ended up dying, so Cinder gave the antidote to Chang Sunto, the son of Chang Sacha the baker who had contracted the plague at the marketplace. Cinder and Kai had several intimate moments, including Kai asking her to go to the ball with him. Cinder said no repeatedly because she thought Kai would be mortified if he saw her cyborg parts. Also, she didn't want to be seen by Levana, she knew she wouldn't be allowed to by Adri, she was already planning on running away, and she had no money for a gown, anyway. During the night of the ball, Cinder received a private comm by a girl (who in later books we find out is Cress), telling her that Levana was only tricking Kai into marrying her and would kill him after the wedding and coronation. Cinder raced to the palace, muddy and wet, but Kai welcomed her anyway, even though the whole crowd was staring. Adri and Pearl were angry and shocked to see her, but Kai refused to let them take Cinder away. Cinder told him about Levana's plan, yet Kai still decided to marry Levana for the sake of the Commonwealth. Cinder kissed him in attempt to stop him, but it didn't work, and Levana only laughed at her. Levana informed Kai that she was Lunar, and that she wanted Cinder back on the moon to await a "trial". Kai refused. Levana suggested that she and Kai bargain for Cinder's life, with Levana threatening to start a war and keep the letumosis medicine from Earth. Using her Lunar powers, Levana forced Cinder to put a gun to her own head but at the last second, Cinder's cyborg programming kicked in, counteracting Levana's manipulation. Cinder fought back, aiming the gun away from herself. Cinder also unintentionally used her glamour, which looked a lot like her mother, and Levana instantly recognized her as her long-lost niece. Cinder then ran out of the palace, pursued by Levana, Kai, and the Lunar guards. Her cyborg foot broke off on the stairs and Cinder fell, exposing her metal parts. Shocked, Kai picked up her foot. Her pursuers then sent her to prison. Kai refused to marry Levana but allowed for Cinder to be sent back to the moon in the next few days. Finding out that Cinder was both cyborg and Lunar supposedly shocked Kai, who now was not sure whether his relationship with Cinder was all an illusion, part of Cinder's glamour. Cinder waited in prison, and Dr. Erland came to give her a new foot and hand. He also urged her to escape the New Beijing prison and meet him in Africa to help overthrow Levana. He told her that she was Princess Selene, the Lunar daughter of the late Queen Channary, and that Cinder should be installed in her rightful place as ruler. Scarlet Cinder met Carswell Thorne when they were both in the New Beijing Prison. Cinder found Thorne very annoying, and even came to using her glamour on him to shut him up, but later she confessed and apologized to him. The pair decided to team-up since Thorne had a ship that would take Cinder away from the Commonwealth's military. Later, Thorne asked her if there was any particular place she would have had to escape to. Cinder pondered this, unsure if she should find Dr. Erland in Africa, but decided to go to France to look for Michelle Benoit to find out more about her past. During their trip there, Cinder is forced to kill several soldiers and glamour them. When they arrived at Michelle Benoit's bomb shelter, Cinder saw images of her burn marks as a baby and some of her history. Cinder didn't find Michelle, but found out about Scarlet, her granddaughter. Cinder set off in search of her, and found her outside an opera house with Wolf. Scarlet said that Michelle had died. They saw Kai's announcement of his marriage to Levana once they got back on the ship. There, Scarlet accused Cinder of not trying to save the Earthen Union and just hiding in the shadows. Cinder became furious, stating that Michelle sent her off without telling her that she was Selene, and Scarlet apologized. The Rampion escaped into space with Cinder deciding to finally fight back. Cress Cinder began training with Wolf, both physically and practicing to use her gift. Scarlet said that Cinder couldn't get a lot of hits in, but when she did, she did hard. Later, the group commed Cress. Cress, an advanced hacker who worked for Levana, was orginally scared and embarrassed, but Cinder told her that all they needed was evidence of what Levana was doing in order to dethrone her. Cress accepted, favoring the Commonwealth's leader over her own, even though if she did, Levana will kill her. Cinder, learning this and the fact that Cress lives in a satellite orbiting Earth, agrees to go and rescue her. Sybil Mira discovered the plan, and sets a trap. Thorne went inside to rescue Cress, who Sybil had tied up, but Sybil trapped the two, and sent them falling to Earth. They landed in the Sahara, located in Africa. She also captured Scarlet as a pilot for her ship, after which she was tortured. Princess Winter took custody of her, and Scarlet became her majesty's new "pet". Jacin, Princess Winter's best friend and royal guard, who was protecting Sybil on the satellite, betrayed Sybil by shooting her, claiming Cinder of controlling her. He helps the crew, and flies the Rampion to South Africa and meet Dr. Dmitri Erland (later known as as Dr. Sage Darnel). Only Cinder and Wolf were left together, along with Sybil's guard Jacin Clay, and they traveled to Africa to find Dr. Erland. He healed Wolf and told them that Lunars were no longer immune to the plague as seeing evidence of the disease mutating. The group (excluding Scarlet) was reunited later in the hotel, but when they left the hotel, they were cornered by the Commonwealth military. The townspeople of Farafrah saved them, and they escaped to New Beijing to stop the wedding. The group was able to sneak into the palace, turn off all video surveillance, and set a distraction to avoid Cinder being spotted. Cinder and Iko attempted to persuade Kai to come with them, but Kai refused, so they tranquilized him and cut out his ID chips. They kidnapped him, and met up with the group again on the palace roof. Jacin was captured by Sybil, and taken to Luna to undergo a full investigation after betraying the Rampion crew. When the group was confronted by Sybil and her royal guards, Cinder tortured Sybil's mind, driving her insane and ultimately causing Sybil to commit suicide by jumping off the roof. The "rogue fugitives" flew to space. When Kai woke up and found Cinder, he was upset and angry at her but she explained her reasoning behind the kidnapping, including the bit about her being the lost Princess Selene, the true heir to the Lunar throne. Cinder confessed her fear of what to do next and Levana, and Kai consoled her. They kissed, but were then disrupted by a newsfeed: Levana had massacared the town that had helped Cinder, Wolf and Jacin, and all six Earthen Unions claimed war on Luna. Cinder soon was determined to go to Luna and start an uprising. Winter The book starts about a month after they kidnapped Emperor Kaito. Cinder and Kai have established a romantic relationship, and Cinder has counted him kissing her over eighteen times. He knows about Cinder's true identity as Princess Selene, and they discuss different plans for getting Cinder to Luna to broadcast the video they made that shows the Lunars that she is the rightful leader of Luna. They return Kai to Earth, where his palace was being burned. He goes to a shelter, where he apologizes to Levana about being kidnapped before their wedding was supposed to start. Levana reschedules the wedding to happen in ten days on Luna. The gang, now consisting of Thorne, Cress, Wolf, Iko, and Cinder, sneak on the ship Emperor Kaito is riding to visit Artemesia for his wedding to Queen Levana, and with the help of Kai and Torin, successfully make it there. After Levana commands Kai's ship to be searched for any stowaways, they plan their escape. Cress hacks into the palace's security system while Thorne starts firing gun shots, causing a diversion while, Wolf, Cinder, and Iko escape the ship. The group, except for Cress, escape to Wolf's old house which was under the care of Maha Kesley, Wolf's mother. Scarlet was reunited with the group along with Winter when they escape the palace with the help of Jacin. Winter was very excited and interested in Cinder, being her lost cousin and friend and her being a cyborg. Cinder then made a video for the outer sectors to show that she was alive and was ready to begin her revolution. When the video ended, a bunch of people were fighting the guards and she stopped them from killing them, and, with Maha's help, the people accepted to be a part of Cinder's revolution. Levana found out about this and she ordered Aimery and her guards to capture Cinder. Cinder and Wolf were captured by Levana's guards and killed Maha along with two other people. The guards disable her hand gun and throw her in jail along with Adri and Pearl. Cinder, who was still upset at Adri for what she did for the past 5 years, started to yell at her after Adri mentioned Cinder didn't save Peony believing that she taunted her on her deathbed with the antidote. Cinder realizes Adri is far too close-minded to reason with and let's things go. Guards come to take Cinder, Adri, and Pearl to trial and Cinder, now enraged, Cinder lifted Adri up by her shirt saying she will force Adri to gouge her own eyes out if she tells the Lunars that Cinder's cyborg foot is removable. Cinder, Adri, and Pearl were part of the wedding entertainment on trial, and while Adri and Pearl were spared, Cinder was to be executed by dismemberment. To make it more interesting, Levana decided that Adri would dismember her but Kai intervened and Cinder glamored him to calm down. Levana told her to stop but Cinder only tells the court that she is Princess Selene and records the trial, which saw past Levana's glamour. The soldiers were about to attack her but she slipped into the minds of twelve guards and started to attack before she jumps into Artemisia Lake. Cress, Jacin, Thorne, and Iko find Cinder in the lake with her arm and leg not functioning and took her to one of the Artemisia aristrocrats' mansion to fix her. They successfuly fixed her but her retina scanner in her brain was broken. While the group discuss their revolution plan, they discover a Lunar sector is infected with the mutated form of letumosis spread by Princess Winter but caused by Levana. The plan was now Thorne and Cress had to sneak into the palace, hack into the palace security system and open the gates to the outer sectors in order to let Cinder's army infiltrate Artmeisia Palace, and to play Cinder's trial in her perspective which shows the queen's true face while Cinder, Jacin, and Iko had to speak into the palace labs and steal the letumosis antidote to bring it to the infected sectors. While Iko was left behind, Jacin drove Cinder along with the antidote to the sector where they met up with a sick Scarlet and Winter. Scarlet, Winter, and the other infected workers were given the antidote and recovered swiftly. Winter and Jacin were sent to the other sectors to round up more workers who were prepared to fight, while Cinder and Scarlet went ahead with the combined Lunar wolf-hybrid soldiers and workers. When Cress opened the gates, Cinder's army then marched into Artemisia Palace and interrupted Levana's coronation ceremony. Levana meets Cinder's forces outside the palace with a band of thaumaturges and quickly deplete Cinder's army. Just as Cinder's army was about to lose, the video of Cinder's trial appears and shows the queen's grotesque face, which left people horrified and able to break free from the queen's hold on their minds. The queen, terrified of the people seeing her true face, ordered the video to stop playing and ran back to the throne room. Cinder decides to go to the throne room and confront Levana. Meanwhile, Winter's forces arrive to help Cinder's side. Cinder arrives at the throne room and sees Thorne with the queen, being manipulavely held near the ledge of the throne room. Cinder asks Levana how she got her horrible injuries and she reveals that her sister caused the injuries. She revealed how Channary was an abusive and terrible sister, saying when she was young, Channary's favorite trick was to pretend that she loved Levana and then torture her. After she was badly burned, she was called the ugly princess of Luna but Levana revealed she promised herself that she would practice her glamour to become the most beautiful of all. Levana then says Cinder has grown up to be just like Channary and her. Cinder denies this and Levana tells her to sacrifice herself to save Thorne, when Thorne jumps in on the conversation. Levana has him jump off the balcony but Cinder catches him and Thorne started punching and cutting Cinder due to being forced by Levana. Scarlet, Wolf and Cress join the scuffle and Cress shoots two of Thorne's fingers off. He starts to run towards Cress and stabs her multiple times. After that, Levana releases him and Levana begins to manipulate Scarlet. Cinder hits Scarlet and gives her a mild concussion and tells Wolf take the rest of them to safety. A battle of bioelectric manipulation begins between Cinder and Levana, with Cinder coming out as the victor. Cinder agrees to spare Levana's life after the queen surrenders. Cinder commands Levana to pass her the knife but just before she can take the knife away from Levana, Levana lunges at Cinder and stabs her in the heart. Just before Cinder loses consciousness, she shoots Levana in the head and the revolution is put to an end. Cinder then wakes up in a clinic with Kai and Dr. Nandez, a cybernetic surgeon who was flown up to Luna to fix Cinder. Kai tells Cinder that Levana is dead and that she is now the queen of Luna. Cinder then asks Kai to have a meeting with the world leaders about the Treaty of Bremen. At the meeting, Cinder says that Luna will continue to produce the antidote, free the imprisoned shells and distribute the antidote to Earth. She also had three requests: cyborgs will gain more rights, Lunars will be free to fly to Earth and vice versa, and to remove criminal charges on Thorne. The leaders agree on the cyborg rights but felt uncomfortable about Lunars on Earth so Cinder presents Adri to the meeting and mentions Garan's bioelectric security system that prevents Earthens from being bio electrically manipulated. She tells them the blue prints to the device are inside Iko and Adri has full ownership to the distribution of the chip, leaving Adri pleased knowing this device will make Adri and Pearl very rich. The criminal charges on Thorne are dropped and they give him a lease on the Rampion. Cinder's coronation ceremony became the most viewed netfeed of the third era. After the coronation, Kai found Cinder in the throne room for privacy. He then presents Cinder with her old foot as a joke. Cinder then tells him her plan to dissolve the Lunar monarchy to avoid a future monarch from committing the crimes Levana had. Cinder drops her old foot into Artmesia Lake and the book ends with the promise that they all lived happily ever after. Stars Above In "The Keeper", Selene is rescued by Logan Tanner after the fire in Luna and taken Michelle Benoit's farm on Earth. Michelle hides Selene in a bomb shelter where it is turned into an operation room. Every day, Michelle would check on Selene to make sure she was okay. When Selene turned 11, Michelle had found Linh Garran, who was willing to adopt the princess and take care of her. Since Garran had the prototype that would protect the princess from manipulation and using her gift, they inserted it into her axis vertabrae. Logan Tanner hadn't used his Lunar gift for years, causing him to have Lunar sickness, so he completed the cybernetic operation with Linh Garran before he put himself into an asylum. Michelle soon renamed the princess "Cinder", a name that shows she was reborn from the cinders of the nursery fire. In "Glitches", Linh Garran takes Selene, now "Linh Cinder", back home to the Eastern Commonwealth where she meets her new adoptive family. Cinder soon begins to adapt to her cyborg parts and befriends her younger adoptive sister, Linh Peony. Cinder fixes the family's android, Iko, in hopes of impressing her adoptive family. Unfortunatley, Garran has contracted letumosis and is taken to quarantines. Because of this, Adri blamed Cinder for her husband's death, and turned her into a slave to earn money for her. Cinder is also featured in the "The Little Android" as a mechanic who helps Star. In "Something Old, Something New", the story takes place two years after the events of the Lunar Revolution where Queen Selene, who has dissolved the Lunar monarchy, has now established a republic on Luna and has made herself an ambassador to the new government. In the beginning of the story, Cinder is worried about Luna as the new government has only been in office for 6 weeks but Iko reassures her everything will be fine. Cinder and Iko leave the palace to meet Thorne and Cress, who have been responsible for the distribution of the antidote to Earth. Cinder, Thorne, Cress, and Iko then fly to Earth and arrive at Scarlet's farm for Scarlet and Wolf's wedding which has gained much publicity. When they arrive, a bunch of journalists start badgering the ex-Queen so Scarlet scares them off by firing her gun. The group is then reunited with Kai, Winter, and Jacin. The next morning, Cinder and her friends start preparing for the wedding, 2 days before the actual wedding was scheduled, so there wouldn't be any paparazzi or jounalists interrupting the ceremony. They make excuses to go out and get the wedding prepped up and distract Scarlet. The girls are tasked with preparing the bride, getting Wolf his suit from Scarlet's room, and distracting Scarlet while the boys are assigned to prepare the house for the ceremony and get Wolf ready for the wedding. During there preparations, after Winter persuades her to wear her wedding dress and Iko does her hair, Scarlet tells the girls about an old wedding tradition where the bride has to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. For Scarlet, her dress was new, her red shoes were borrowed from Winter, her grandma's European Federation Pilot pin was something old, and her something blue was the word "Alpha" embroidered in blue on her wedding dress by Winter. The girls then lead Scarlet downstairs where the house is transformed, Scarlet's friend, Emilie, has arrived, and Wolf reveals he planned this whole scheme knowing the publicity surrounding their wedding was irritating Scarlet and he wanted her to be happy. Kai then acts as the marriage officiant and officially marries Scarlet and Wolf. During the after party, Cinder takes Kai to the bomb shelter were she was kept for 8 years to show him a piece in her past. Kai then takes Cinder to the edge of the farm property where they are able to gaze at the stars and Kai then proposes. Cinder accepts and they kiss. The book ends with Cinder being excited for what is to come, knowing anything with Kai was right. Characteristics Cinder is very stubborn and confident. She is strong willed and has perseverance. Physical appearance Cinder has a slight, thin build, naturally tanned skin, and straight brown hair below her shoulders, which is usually worn in a messy ponytail. It is mentioned numerous times in the series that Cinder's figure is too angular and too boyish (slightly curved).Marissa Meyer's blog. A Guide to Lunar Chronicles Character Traits (July 31, 2014) Her left hand and leg are made of metal, the prostheses on her leg going up to mid-thigh, as well as four ribs and splints along the bones in her right leg. On both her cyborg leg and hand, where the metal meets skin, there is scar tissue, the result of the fire. Her vertebrae, the silicon and biotissue around her heart, and her brown eyes were also man-made, as well as a control panel at the base of her skull. Until it was disabled by Dr. Erland, she had a small chip that suppressed her Lunar gift installed in her spine. It was created by her stepfather, Linh Garan, before he succumbed to the plague letumosis. Personality She's stubborn, but tenacious as well. Generally warm-hearted, fair, and friendly to people, she is also somewhat awkward in conversations, due to a slight complex about her being a cyborg and looking down upon herself because of this. In the beginning of Cinder, she's part tomboy and doesn't particularly care how she dresses; she does, however, wear a ball gown to the Commonwealth ball. Cinder, although tough, has a soft side that she occasionally shows, particularly to Emperor Kai. When someone gets hurt or in trouble, she becomes tense and concerned, and cares for even the people she doesn't know. Unlike Levana, she cares deeply about the value of other lives, whether it's Lunar, Earthen, cyborg, shell, etc. An example of this is in Scarlet, when she is devastated and momentarily breaks down after accidentally controlling a police officer in France with her manipulation of bioelectricity, making the police officer guard her from an incoming attack, and dying as the consequence. Cinder is also extremely intelligent, though she will occasionally put her emotions ahead of a wise decision. Despite her young age, she excels at her profession as a mechanic. Skills As the true Lunar queen, Cinder is an extremely skilled Lunar with unbelievably powerful abilities of glamouring, along with bioelectricity manipulation. Her skills are hinted to even surpass Levana's, which is partially why Levana both loathes and fears her. Within a week of discovering her skills, she is able to control one of the lupine soldiers of Luna, which is a very remarkable ability, as thaumaturges, with years of training, have difficulty doing so. She is also able to control Sybil Mira, the head thaumaturge, and mentally attack her, driving her to the brink of insanity and ultimately forcing her to commit suicide by jumping off the palace roof. As a cyborg, she also has a knife within her hand and tranquilizer darts within her finger that she can shoot at people to temporarily stun them, as she dislikes using her gift (believing that it turns her into a "monster", like Levana). In the beginning of Cress, she was also shown to train physically with Wolf, gaining some martial arts abilities. Since Cinder had her surgery into being a cyborg, she had some "disabilties", which is what Adri would say, about her. At the end of the book, Cress, Cinder admitted to Kai that she was unable to cry, and that her eyes were synthetic. She told him that the tear ducts she would have had were in the way of her retina scanner and netlink. Cinder also revealed to Kai that she was unable to blush, for it could lead to her overheating and her power system going on shut down until she lowered all her temperature levels. Relationships Emperor Kaito (Kai) Emperor Kai is Cinder's love interest. They first met when he entered her booth at the marketplace at New Beijing Market, in the disguise of a gray hoodie to avoid paparazzi, to have his broken android fixed. He then met her again with Dr. Erland under the impression she was fixing a med droid. Because of their connection with Dr. Erland, they met up several times. Every time they met, Kai slowly began to develop feelings for Cinder, asking her to the ball several times, even giving her the gift of beautiful, creamy silk gloves. However, since Cinder thought her status as a cyborg and later Lunar made her unfit for Kai, she repeatedly turned him down, making up random excuses. Like Cinder, Kai faced decisions that could result in sacrificing his own life for what he perceived as the greater good. Once Cinder learned that if Kai accepted the Lunar Queen Levana's offer of marriage she would kill him, Cinder went to the ball to warn Kai. Levana saw her there and recognized her because her glamour was similar to her mother's (Levana's late sister, Queen Channary). Kai, the rest of the people at the ball, and most of the world (as it was caught on video) learned that Cinder was a Lunar and cyborg, and Cinder was thrown into New Beijing Prison. Kai seemed to have been extremely distressed by this, because he actually liked her and felt betrayed, for he didn't know if his feelings for Cinder was just her messing with his mind or real. In order to keep peace with Luna and Levana because harboring a Lunar fugitive was against the law, Kai agreed to hand over Cinder to be executed. When Cinder escaped, Queen Levana was quick to blame Kai because of his feelings for her. She then gave him three days to find Cinder. Kai was unable to find her at the end of the three days and Levana attacked, unleashing special Lunar operatives that she had sneaked on Earth. As a result, 16,000 Earthens were killed. Kai then agreed to marry Levana in order to stop the attacks. Even after he accepted Levana's marriage proposal, it was evident that Kai still had feelings for Cinder. In fact, almost every time he thought about her, he wished she could escape. When Kai was planning for his wedding with Levana, he treated it more like he was going to his death. He was also very tired of the wedding preparations. On the day of the wedding, he was reunited with Cinder. Their conversation lead into an argument and resulted in Cinder shooting him with a tranquilizing dart. Kai then woke up aboard the Rampion confused, hurt, and shocked. Cress led Kai into the podship dock where Cinder was repairing Iko. After the two argued for a bit, Cinder finally admitted that she was Princess Selene. Kai then forced Cinder to tell him all of her secrets. She apologized to him and vice versa. The two then shared a kiss, but it was interrupted when news of a massacre in Farafrah appeared on Cinder's netscreen. Kai and Cinder grow even closer, even sharing real kisses and a long conversation, leading them to have a better understanding of each other. At the very end, Kai takes Cinder and asks her to marry him, leading to a future together. They appear to deeply love each other and will sacrifice one for the other. Cinder is no longer hesitant to keep secrets from him, and they both realize that they are absolutely perfect together. In Something Old, Something New, Kai asked her to marry him and be the Commonwealth's empress and she said yes. Family tree Luna Royal Tree Linh Tree Trivia *The name "Cinder" comes from the original Cinderella fairy tale, in which Cinderella would often arise covered in cinders. *In Greco-Roman mythology, Selene is the titan goddess of the moon, while her Roman counterpart is Luna. The capital of Luna, Artemesia, originates from Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon and hunting after Selene retired. *Cinder is ambidextrous. *Cinder has blood type A. *Just like the original fairy tale Cinderella, Cinder is almost always covered in dirt. *Author Marissa Meyer may have chosen a fire to be the reason for Linh Cinder's injuries because in the original fairy tale, Cinderella had to pick lentils from a pile of ashes in order to go to the ball. *Cinder's zodiac sign is Sagittarius. Notes References Fanart Linh Cinder Full Body Shot.jpg|Cinder by © lostie815 Cinder Portrait by AbbiDaSquirrel.jpg|Cinder by © Abbi Whozit Linh Cinder sm.png|Cinder by © BlackBirdInk Kai and cinder by taratjah-d8h1rbp.jpg|Kai and Cinder by © Taratjah Cinder And Kai.png|Cinder and Kai by © ArtofAngela Cinderand kai by abbidasquirrel-d6hozf0.jpg|Kai and Cinder by © Abbi Whozit CINDER-tumblr-moonm.jpg|Cinder by © Moon-Mirage Cinder.LunarChronicles.FA.jpg|Cinder by © may12324 Thelunarchroniclesbook.submission.princesselene.jpg|Cinder by © thelunarchronicles cndr+kaito_da_fa.png|Kai and Cinder by © sorcaron cinder_tumblr_fa.jpg|Cinder by © kadhara cinder-fa-lc.png|Cinder by © megphail Category:Cyborgs Category:Lunars Category:Characters Category:Linh family Category:Royalty Category:Characters in Cinder Category:Characters in Scarlet Category:Characters in Cress Category:Characters in Winter Category:Characters in Fairest Category:A to Z Category:Females Category:Viewpoint characters